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Removing Seattle’s Confederate Memorial: United Daughters of the Confederacy, Veterans for Peace and a Museum find Common Ground.

Removing Seattle’s Confederate Memorial: United Daughters of the Confederacy, Veterans for Peace and a Museum find Common Ground.

By Charlette LeFevreThe Charlette Report

Veterans for Peace, NW Museum of Legends and Lore Directors, Heidi Christensen- former Pres. UDC and Laura Ingalls Wilder of Capitol Hill Pride make a stand against racism by advocating to Seattle City Council to remove the Confederate Monument.

“Slavery is not a 21st century standard.”

– Michael Dedrick, Vice Pres. Seattle Veterans for Peace Chapter 92

On March 19, 2018 several unlikely organizations met for public comment to the Seattle City Council to speak to the removal of a Confederate Monument in Seattle’s Lakeview Cemetery.
Heidi Christensen, former and last acting President Of the Seattle Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Veterans for Peace Seattle Chapter and the NW Museum of Legends and Lore spoke to Seattle City Council to request removal of the monument in Lakeview Cemetery.

Since the events in Charleston and Charlottesville NC the violent climate in which the Confederate flag has been a rallying symbol has prompted numerous cities, twenty six to date across the nation to removed their Confederate monuments bearing testimony that society no longer considers it acceptable to display.

Benign or dangerous monument?

It is believed these monuments have empowered and emboldened white supremacist groups and Christensen believes the visits to these monuments have “quintupled” or increased five fold in the last two years with groups or “gangs” in regular ritual visitations to the monuments.

Close to 500 attend the counter protest to Hammerskins at Cal Anderson Park in 2015.

Almost three years ago the City of Seattle and City Council was called upon to consider action for the monuments removal with no action taken. Then former Mayor Ed Murray would state there was nothing he could do as it was on private property. Murray would later change his position and in August of 2017 wrote a statement calling for its removal followed by a statement from the Seattle Human Rights Commission. Last year a second petition was started calling for the monuments removal.

Former Seattle Mayor Ed Murray would state in August 2017

“We must remove statues and flags that represent this country’s abhorrent history of slavery and oppression based on the color of people’s skin. It is the right thing to do. During this troubling time when neo-Nazis and white power groups are escalating their racist activity, Seattle needs to join with cities and towns across the country who are sending a strong message by taking these archaic symbols down.”

The Seattle Human Rights Commission shortly after would state –

“The values for which the Confederate States of America existed, and the values perpetuated by those who maintain its legacy do not support human rights,” said the commission in a statement. “The memorial erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in the Lake View Cemetery is an affront to this City’s values, just as it is an affront to Seattle residents affected by racial injustice.

“We recognize that this memorial stands on private land. In order to better repair the divide of slavery, racism, and recent violence, we urge the Lake View Cemetery Association to immediately seek to remove this memorial.”

Heidi Christensen, last acting Pres.of the United Daughters of the Confederacy suggests to Seattle City Council to remove the Confederate Monument. Black Panther in the back of the room?

Heidi Christensen, former and last acting President of the United Daughters of the Confederacy Seattle Chapter is also advocating for the monument’s removal.

“The past is important, but so is the future”

Heidi joined the Seattle UDC #885 in 2004 on the service of her great-great grandfather, became Pres. in 2008 and advocated membership for South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond’s eldest child, Mrs. Essie Mae Washington Williams here in Seattle. When Heidi saw how unfairly Essie Williams application was denied, she left the organization. As the Seattle UDC is today not reachable, no longer meets, it is considered defunct. With confirmation that the last officers have changed their names, Heidi Christensen is considered the last active President.

Heidi has experience with monument removal as she assisted the Peace Arch State Park monument removal now placed in the private park controlled by the Portland Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Heidi has stated she did her best to focus the UDC on their patriotic mission, rather than to focus on a false narrative regarding state’s rights.

“Human rights are the call of the hour, and they always have been….It is of no concern to me to be a good Southerner. It is only my concern to do my duty as a human being. “

“The heinous assassination of Nine Saints at Mother Emanuel AME Church here in Charleston should never have happened. How pitiful that it took this evil to remove the Confederate flag from public land above our Columbia Capitol. It is high time we retire these relics to private property. While I realize the Lakeview Cemetery is private property, it becomes a symbol for misguided minds.”

Christensen is also advocating that the Lakeview monument be relocated to the Sons of the Confederacy to their private park where it would be more appropriate.

The NW Museum of Legends and Lore commends Heidi Christensen for bravely speaking up and is also encouraging the City to review the monument as visible to the public and not just a benign object tucked away in a corner of a back yard. Visible symbols to the public may fall under current Seattle statues for offensive symbols.

Lakeview Cemetery is one of the most visited cemeteries in the state with thousands of visitors who visit Bruce Lee’s nearby grave site alone. To describe Lakeview Cemetery as ‘private property’ is a disregard to the thousands of people who visit the cemetery every year, families, and friends. It should be well noted that the Confederate Memorial faces one of the roads in the cemetery and by the UDC’s own documents, was meant originally for a public plaza and not a cemetery.

Military code dictates that an enemy flag should not be flown after defeat. This dishonors the American flag.

A Statement to Seattle City Council from the NW Museum of Legends and Lore:

“Since August 12th white supremacist rally At least 26 confederate monuments have been removed unfortunately the one at Lakeview cemetery was not one of them. The American Historical Association said that to remove a monument is not to erase history the monuments were intended to intimidate African-American politically and isolate them from the mainstream of public life. It is also beyond question that the confederate flag was used extensively by the Klu Klux Klan as it waged a campaign of terror against African Americans.

A mistake was made in erecting the monument and steps can be made to correct the mistake by removing the monument now.” – Philip Lipson, Co-Director NW Museum of Legends and Lore

“Veterans for Peace does not accept the display of racist words or symbols on any monument and this is especially true of symbols supporting or endorsing the Confederacy and its failed war in support of slavery.

As veterans we have a connection to these former soldiers, many of whom, like some of our members were draftees in an unpopular and divisive war.

One of our chapter members has a great grandfather, Joseph Pritchett, one of the 14 Confederate buried next to the monument, and our member supports the scrubbing of offensive words and symbols. Chapter 92, in a meeting last Saturday, was in consensus agreement with this proposal. VFP will work with others to install appropriate displays on the existing monument or in the case of complete removal will help with a replacement memorial sign for the Confederate graves.

VFP welcomes the former President of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in condemning the racist symbols on the monument, but there needs to be more awareness of the role the UDC had in promoting myths that the Confederate cause was a just and honorable one that states rights, not slavery was its call to arms. This promotion of southern mythology included support of the KKK, turning a blind eye to lynching, and Jim Crow laws. We can see how these practices played out in segregation, voter suppression and the elections of bigots like Strom Thurmond and James Eastland. Our current Attorney General, Jess Sessions, raised in mid 20th century Alabama, is a product of UDC propaganda.

UDC virulently racist polemics can be seen reflected in the hate filled rants of white supremacists after the Charleston and Sutherland church massacres, the KKK rallies, and torchlight white nationalist marches composed of, as president Trump commented, good people.

On the UDC website it states “We as an organization do not sit in judgment of (our Confederate ancestors) nor do we impose the standards of the 21st century on these Amercians of the 19th century.

Slavery is not a 21st century standard.”

My Daddy was a KKK Wizard! May Avery Wilkins credited with establishing the Seattle monument had a father, Col. Avery who was Commander in Chief of a Georgia county Klan.

Martin Luther King Jr.

From Veterans for Peace

“A monument honoring veterans becomes problematic for us as all attempts to honor veterans legitimizes and justifies the war they fought in. Believing that all wars the U.S. has fought since WW II have not been legal or moral, it is difficult to recognize veterans contributions who were/are victims of misguided and unjustifiable U.S. foreign policy that sent them to war. We don’t see how you can honor the veteran without honoring the war. We understand that men and women in the military, past and present, fight bravely and courageously – some making the ultimate sacrifice.

We recognize this is an unpopular and considered unpatriotic position, especially in a militarized culture where people are always saying to veterans, “Thank you for your service” and claiming we are heroes. But how else do we begin to stop the wars and change to a peaceful culture and society, unless we stop honoring those who participated in them.

We have plenty of war memorials and tributes to soldiers who fought and died, as well to the many who survived. Do we really need more? What we do need are war memorials that expose the true costs and futility of war.

The best way, we believe, to honor our military personnel is to bring them home and stop the endless wars. Understanding U.S. history and foreign policy has lead us -better late than never- to see that war is not the answer. What we really need to do is honor the peacemakers and organizations that are pursuing dialogue and cooperation with other nations and working toward a peaceful resolution to conflict. Let’s have some statues of those working for peace, including veterans.” – Dan Gilman, President, Veterans For Peace, Greater Seattle Chapter 92.

Michael Moynihan aka Renaissance who is involved with Black Lives Matters says he would like to see the monument demolished to KOMO news. Those comments mysteriously were never aired.

“I would like to see it removed and demolished”

– Michael Moynihan, a.k.a. Renaissance

Michael Moynihan or Renaissance who is involved with Seattle’s local Black Lives Matter commented in 2016 upon finding out about the memorial that he sees it as “…a continuation of a system of oppression and ideology that systematically holds people of color down”.
“I would like to see [the memorial] removed, demolished and the rest of the public informed on why it was removed with a plaque in its place.”

Symbolic Granite Steeped in Klu Klux Klan History

Of note, the 10-ton slab of granite used in Seattle’s memorial was not local from the Northwest but shipped to Seattle via the Panama Canal all the way from Georgia’s Stone Mountain by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Why go through all the expense of shipping granite all the way from Georgia and this particular Mountain? Perhaps because Stone Mountain was where the Ku Klux Klan restarted in 1915 by the first Grand Wizard William Joseph Simmons. Stone Mountain is where Simmons along with over a dozen men and mountain owner Venable built an alter and burned a symbolic cross – the first cross burning and swore in charter members. This event is referred to as the resurgence and rebirth of the Klan. Venable created a perpetual easement, giving the Klan the right to forever hold meetings on the top of the mountain. Over the next 45 years Stone Mountain was frequently used as a symbolic meeting place for this KKK.

For some, the fact that Pres of the Daughters Mrs. May Avery Wilkins who was originally from Georgia who is credited with establishing the monument had a father, Col. Avery who appears to have been a Commander in Chief of a Georgia county Klu Klux Klan per Congressional documents, is much to close a relation for comfort. The likelyhood that the Seattle Confederate memorial was funded by KKK revenue appears to be very high.

The mountain became so well known as a symbol of the KKK that Martin Luther King included it in his “I Have a Dream” speech. in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. Martin Luther King said “…let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!”

Once Stone Mountain had been purchased in 1958 the state of Georgia “took the unusual step of condemning its own property” as the only way to release the perpetual easement to the Klan to hold meetings on the mountain.

The NW Museum of Legends and Lore and supporting organizations have requested to meet with Lakeview Cemetery and hope to find a solution in the near future.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.